The golden core tribulation clouds above the Scarlet Flame Flower Fields had not actually drawn much attention, and the earth-rank pill mist that should have made the Eight Great Sects realize the severity of the problem had been intercepted in time by Shu Tiantian, not a trace of its scent leaking out.

Instead, early this morning, Dao Xuzi spread the news throughout the Eight Great Sects that the Sword Saint would soon descend to the lower realm to participate in the grand plan, and the prestige of the Tianji Sect once again rose to an unprecedented height.

Cultivators from the upper realm also arrived one after another, and for a time, Void Abyss actually took on an oppressive atmosphere, like black clouds pressing upon a city, threatening to crush it.

Above Dongwu City, the Eight Great Sects gathered together, making their final preparations for tomorrow night’s dragon extermination.

With the Sword Saint who cultivated the God-Slaying Sword stepping forward, they had already glimpsed the dawn of victory. As for the God-Slaying Formation, its power had not diminished even after a thousand years.

Logically speaking, they should have been able to rest easy, yet the Divination Sect, which ranked last among the Eight Great Sects, felt somewhat uneasy, repeatedly suggesting that people be sent deep into the Scarlet Flame Flower Fields to investigate again, to prevent any unexpected changes.

But, considering that the people of the Divination Sect were beaten every year and had extremely low credibility, no one took it seriously.

Only Elder Bu Nanxing, far away at the Tianji Sect guarding the main gate, counted on his fingers and arrived at the same result as the Divination Sect.

Moreover, he even calculated that this matter was once again connected to his troublesome disciple.

His brows furrowed tightly as he looked up at the sky.

He must have miscalculated. Last time, the peach blossom calamity was already inexplicable—this time was even more outrageous.

Could his little disciple really carry off such a huge dragon? How many ounces of flesh did she even have?

Should he remind Dao Xuzi about this matter, or not?

He looked up at the sky, calculating that the distance from here to Void Abyss was not short. A round trip might delay his drinking, and the thought of retreat began to stir in his heart.

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And in the flower fields—

Elder Bu Nanxing’s troublesome disciple had just fed the Great Creation Pill to the giant dragon.

Although the Great Creation Pill could regrow flesh upon bare bones… modifying a heavenly-rank pill formula into an earth-rank pill—there was probably no one else in the cultivation world who would dare do such a thing besides her. With no precedent to draw from, Shu Tiantian herself could not be certain how much the medicinal effect would be reduced.

And even worse, because a golden core tribulation had just passed, another day had gone by.

When one more day passed and that full moon rose, it would be the arrival of the thousand-year calamity.

That was when the giant dragon would be at its weakest, and when the God-Slaying Formation would be at its strongest. She had witnessed the brutality of the previous two thousand-year calamities, and she knew that this time, at the Ten Thousand Sects Assembly, the Eight Great Sects—even the people of the upper realm—would strike with lethal intent. So before that moment came, she had to steal Longlong away.

She wanted to examine the condition of the dragon’s abdomen, so she coaxed the dragon to turn over and show her the wound.

She had thought that, given how strongly the giant dragon had reacted last time, it must be extremely taboo for it. She had already prepared to talk herself hoarse persuading it.

Who would have thought that the dragon who last time refused to let her see the wound even if beaten to death, the dragon who had covered the injury tightly with its tail—this time, for some unknown reason, when Shu Tiantian touched its scales, the dragon lazily shifted and actually agreed to let her see that penetrating wound.

That single strike of the God-Slaying Sword, gathering the power of heaven and earth, had left this wound without the slightest sign of healing for two thousand years.

The wound was ugly and abrupt, looking ferocious and terrifying. On the body of this beautiful yet scar-covered giant dragon, it carried a cruel sense of brokenness.

Perhaps because it was the first time in a thousand years that someone had stared directly at this ugly wound, although the giant dragon appeared unconcerned, its tail flicked impatiently, and it even seemed a little uneasy.

After all, for such a fierce beast to reveal a wound it had hidden for two thousand years, to expose a weakness rarely known by others, was something that made the dragon extremely irritable—and there was also an indescribable awkwardness.

The scales there had been shaved off by half, the flesh charred black, the penetrating wound ferocious and bloody—it was simply too ugly, too frightening.

Would she be frightened? Would she feel horror? Would she think this dragon was ugly and useless?

Actually… he used to be very good-looking.

Her gaze only made the dragon increasingly restless—uneasy, even tinged with faint agitation. Yet these awkward displays, when placed on such a ferocious beast with an utterly unapproachable appearance, instead seemed somewhat vicious.

Just as the giant dragon finally could not bear it any longer and wanted to hide the wound again, refusing to let her see it, the little medical cultivator who had been staring at the injury for a long time gently touched his scales and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, “Does it hurt?”

When you fell from the firmament, did it hurt?

When you turned into a little black snake and were despised by others, did it hurt?

When the human race you protected used the power of heaven and earth to nail you down, did it hurt?

But this question made the enormous black dragon momentarily blank. The dragon had never thought about such a question. His wound would never heal, so for thousands upon thousands of years, pain had been as natural to the dragon as breathing.

The dragon was very strong. Even reduced to this state, he still made countless living beings in the world tremble in fear; even when he had turned into an ordinary little black snake, he was still a calamitous dragon—second only to the heavens, and first above all else.

After all, he was not some weak human who could cry, feel pain, or scream.

The question left the ferocious black dragon confused and puzzled, yet when he saw the little medical cultivator crying, the dragon did not know what he had done wrong. He could only bring his horn closer and rub it against her cheek in a placating manner.

Shu Tiantian rubbed her slightly stinging eyes. After being rubbed by the dragon like that, she could not help but break into a grin.

Her eyes sparkled as she thought, from now on it wouldn’t happen anymore. With her here, it would never hurt again.

Her soft fingers rested upon that terrifying wound. The Withered Wood Meets Spring, already at the second stage, could bring forth vitality like a gently flowing stream. Thus, tiny green points of light slipped inside, guiding the Great Creation Pill within the dragon’s body to gather together, then transforming into a slender purple current that flowed toward the wound.

The dragon’s body stiffened, and almost by reflex, his massive form contracted sharply.

For a thousand years, even the slightest touch upon this wound would cause heart-rending agony. Yet when the little medical cultivator’s soft fingers touched it, it did not bring the scorching pain he had expected.

Soft. Dry. Gentle.

Where her fingers passed, the burning pain vanished. The withered flesh rapidly fell away, quickly replaced by fresh new flesh. Over the gap in the dragon’s body, wherever her fingers brushed, light flowed and shimmered. Purple pill energy covered it, slowly growing skin and flesh.

The sound of golden-red blood flowing, the sound of withered life breaking through the soil into rebirth—everything was infinitely magnified.

Magnified until, at last, the steady rhythm of the dragon’s heart supplying blood skipped a beat.

The giant dragon lowered his head to look at the great hole that had pierced through him. All he saw was a hazy swirl of purple pill mist. The newly grown dragon skin within was still extremely fragile, so thin it was almost translucent.

But… the wound had indeed healed.

The miasma no longer poured in wildly to devour the dragon’s vitality. The spiritual energy he had painstakingly accumulated would no longer be easily lost through the great hole. Because of the wound leaking air, he no longer had to maintain a single posture until his entire body stiffened.

In these thousand years, what had been most unbearable was not the pain of flesh—but despair.

The giant dragon lowered his head and slowly curled his tail around her, rubbing his horn against her again and again, until she could not help but laugh, hugging the dragon and rubbing her own head against his.

But she did not know that the giant dragon was actually trembling slightly.

Not from pain—but from forcibly restraining the urge to burst into laughter, to carry her soaring into the clouds and roll several times, to toss her into the air, then coil around her and roam freely in his favorite deep pool.

It was what had been buried, breaking through the soil. What had lain in dust, seeing daylight again.

The tiny bit of vitality she brought was like a sliver of light never before seen.

Even if he wished to ascend to the heavens or plunge into the seas, the dragon at this moment merely coiled around his little medical cultivator, forcefully suppressing that impulse, only rubbing against her again and again.

The dragon liked his flower far too much. At this moment, he thought—so long as she agreed to kiss the dragon horn again, the fifty-year covenant of heaven and earth… he wanted to extend it to a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years.

Shu Tiantian hugged the dragon horn, only feeling that if he kept rubbing like this, they would not need to run away anymore.

Then next—was step two of stealing the dragon!

But Shu Tiantian paused, and immediately realized something was wrong.

The air around them contained only extremely thin spiritual energy. Even the circulation of spiritual energy within Shu Tiantian’s dantian had slowed. Forget gathering enough spiritual energy to make the dragon shrink—even the spiritual energy Shu Tiantian needed for pill refinement was probably no longer sufficient.

Almost instantly, Shu Tiantian reached a conclusion: it was a Spirit-Gathering Formation.

A Spirit-Gathering Formation could absorb spiritual energy over a vast area. As long as they set up countless Spirit-Gathering Formations around the surroundings, they could drain all the spiritual energy from the center of Void Abyss!

Although she already knew they were ruthless, seeing things reach this point still made Shu Tiantian laugh in anger.

Just how terrified were they of Longlong and of the Void Abyss Ancestor?

When the time came and Longlong was trapped inside the Scarlet Flame Flower Fields, that enormous formation, left at the mercy of others—even if he wanted to gather a little spiritual energy to resist, they intended to sever even that last sliver of possibility?

Their calculations were meticulous—so meticulous Shu Tiantian almost wanted to applaud, but—

She patted the dragon, climbed down from his body, then sat cross-legged in front of him and with a clatter poured out a small mountain of spirit stones from her storage pouch!

All these years, the dragon had been like a giant balloon with a leak. Because his dragon core had been dug out, his dantian had also lost the ability to store spiritual energy. The spiritual energy in his body was practically nothing to begin with, and the spiritual energy outside was too thin—completely insufficient.

Shu Tiantian had no Spirit-Gathering Formation and no powerful cultivation. It looked like she could do nothing, but… Shu Tiantian had money.

In fact, the purpose of spirit stones in the cultivation world was to store spiritual energy. But under normal circumstances… who would be so extravagantly wealthy as to burn money like this? Yet Shu Tiantian now was a little rich woman carrying twelve million spirit stones everywhere she went.

Wasn’t it just burning some money to steal a dragon?